The Deaths of Young Men
By Jeffrey Page
Tuesday is the 12th anniversary of an American crucifixion. It was on Oct. 12 in 1998 when two young men in southeastern Wyoming got hold of a third man outside a bar in Laramie, beat him to a bloody pulp, and then took him out to a ranch where they tied him to a fence and left him in cold weather for about 18 hours. Finally someone spotted him and called for help.
It took Matthew Shepard four days to die. At the time, it was reported that the reason for the attack was that Shepard, a gay 22-year old student at the University of Wyoming, had made a pass at one of the men.
In some insane code, Shepard had to pay for this with his life. Of course, if everybody who ever made a pass – gay or straight – was treated like this, there would be no vacant spaces along the fences of America. After they tied Shepard up, their honor ostensibly upheld, his two assailants drove back to Laramie, where they attacked two Hispanic men.
For killing Matthew Shepard, Russell A. Henderson, 21, and Aaron J. McKinney, 22, were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Recently, I’ve been reminded of Shepard’s fate when I read about the equally unspeakable death of Tyler Clementi in New Jersey. In Clementi’s case, there was no direct physical assault. Instead, prosecutors say, two other students at Rutgers University set the wheels in motion for Tyler’s suicide.
No one has been convicted of anything. Indeed, no one’s even been indicted yet. So for now, responsible news organizations must stick with “allegedly” and “police said” and “prosecutors charged.” But what can never be called into question is the fact that Tyler Clementi was gay-bashed to death without anyone laying a finger on him.
Someone tore away any defenses that Clementi may have set up for himself by secretly webcasting his gay sexual encounter with another Rutgers student and putting it up on the Internet for all the world to see. A few days later, Clementi jumped from the George Washington Bridge.
Authorities charged Clementi’s roommate, Dhuran Ravi, and another student, Molly Wei, with invasion of Clementi’s privacy. That alone could get them five years in prison. Additional charges are possible. For example, if prosecutors pursue the case as a bias crime, the maximum penalty could go to 10 years.
As usual in cases like these, people are left with the question that seems as though it never will be satisfactorily answered. What is the fear that drives men such as Henderson and McKinney to do what they did to Matthew Shepard? That some gay guy is going to make off with them? That’s absurd in general; all they have to do is say no. It’s especially ridiculous in Shepard’s case since he was all of 5 feet 2, not exactly a physical threat. The other question is whether they might have had doubts about their heterosexuality and had to come to grips with that as a result of an encounter with a gay man.
Through their lawyers, Ravi and Wei have said that they did not hold Clementi’s homosexuality against him. Then, what could possibly have been their motivation for allegedly posting Tyler Clementi’s tryst on the Internet? They didn’t address that.
The death of Tyler Clementi informs us that the outrages are far from over. Anyone who was aware of Matthew Shepard’s death in 1998 likely hoped that such an atrocity could not happen again. But it did and we are left with yet another question: How many more young men must pay with their lives for the crime of being who they are?
Jeffrey can be reached at jeffrey@zestoforange.com.
Tags: Jeffrey Page
October 7th, 2010 at 8:19 am
It’s difficult to think this is still happening in today’s era. It broke my heart to read about this poor kid’s death and all that his family is now facing. I hope that the kids who caused his death – as much as pushing him off the bridge – get the maximum. there shouldn’t be any leniency because they are young, etc. etc. time to pay the piper.